Islam and the Golden Rule

Our friend Robert
Spencer of Jihad Watch, the indefatigable defender of the Western
civilization, send me the following email and asked me to answer to
the criticism of a Muslim to an article that I wrote four years ago
on the incompatibility of Islam and the Golden Rule. Here is this
Muslim’s rebuttal and my response to him.

Recently I came across an attack on your piece on Islam and the
Golden Rule. These passages below were cited in refutation. Any
guidance you can give me on responding to this would be greatly
appreciated.

Islamic Text on the Golden Rule:

The Quran:

“Serve God, and join not any partners with Him; and do good - to
parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbors who are near,
neighbors who are strangers, the companion by your side, the
wayfarer (ye meet), and what your right hands possess [the slave]:
For God loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious” (Q:4:36)

(In fact the Quran goes beyond saying the Golden Rule by stating in
more than four places that “Return evil with Kindness.” (13:22,
23:96, 41:34, 28:54, 42:40)

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh):

“None of you have faith until you love for your neighbor what you
love for yourself” (Sahih Muslim)

“Whoever wishes to be delivered from the fire and to enter
Paradise…should treat the people as he wishes to be treated.” (Sahih
Muslim)

“None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he
wishes for himself” (Forty Hadith-Nawawi)

“None of you is a believer if he eats his full while his neighbour
hasn’t anything.” (Musnad)

“Do unto all men as you would wish to have done unto you; and reject
for others what you would reject for yourselves.” (Abu Dawud)

The Quran is a book of double standards. Indeed, there are
exhortations to Muslims to be kind to the poor, the traveler, the
orphan and the sick. This is to be expected. If you want to start
a religion you must preach something good or you’d not find anyone
to believe you. You cannot preach only evil. In order to attract
followers you must teach things that people like and can easily
identify as good. Once they accept you as a prophet, guru or their
spiritual guide, then you can do whatever you want and get away
with it.

The difference between a true spiritual teacher and a conman is in
their consistency. There are several teachings of Muhammad that
can be compared to those of Jesus, but the teachings of Jesus are
consistent while those of Muhammad are not. Even a criminal can
give you good advises, this does not mean this criminal is a good
person.

When I was young there was a radio show in Iran called A City
within Our City. Every week the producer would interview a prison
inmate on death roll and the criminal would tell the story of his
life and what brought him to crime. At the end of the program the
producer would ask, whether the criminal had any advice for young
people. These criminals often had the best advises. They knew
exactly the difference between right and wrong. I recall thinking,
if only someone complied the advices of these criminals he could
write the best book of guidance. Good words are dime a dozen. If
they are not accompanied by good actions they are worthless. In
fact the difference between a great man and a conman is in how
much their words and deeds differ. Even Obama came to power by
giving good talks. His entire life however was filled with crime
and chicanery. Demagogy is the domain of all charlatans and they
are good at it.

We find similar good exhortations in the teachings of Jim Jones
who actually based his religion on “social justice”. He even
adopted children from many races to set the example.

The
problem with the good teachings of Muhammad is that they are
reserved for fellow Muslims. When the hadith says, “None of
you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he
wishes for himself,.” it is
talking about the fellow Muslims.

The
brotherhood in Islam does
not extend to everyone. The Quran (9:23)
states that the believers should not take for friends and
protectors (awlia) their fathers and brothers if they
love Infidelity above Islam. In fact there are many verses
that tell the Muslims to kill the unbelievers and be harsh to
them. A clear example that Islam is not based on the Golden Rule
is the verse(48:29):
“Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; and those who are
with him are strong against Unbelievers, (but) compassionate
amongst each other.”This
is the perfect definition of fascism.

There are many other verses that
show the brotherhood in Islam is not universal. The non believers
have no rights and should not be treated in the same way that
Muslims are to be treated. The entire Quran is a breach of the
Golden Rule. The Quran tells Muslims to slay the unbelievers
wherever they find them (2:191),
do not befriend them (3:28),
fight them and show them harshness (9:123),
smite their heads (47:4),
etc. Are these verses compatible with the Golden Rule?

Islam is the only doctrine, that calls upon its believers to do
evil to others for the simple fact that they are not believers.

According to Muslims it is not the Golden Rule that defines the
good and bad, it is Muhammad who does it. They believe that what
is good for Islam is the highest virtue and what is bad for Islam
is the ultimate evil. This is the definition of good and evil in
Islam. This is the ethos of all cults. From Asahara’s “Aum
Shinrikyo” to Jim Jones’ “People’s Temple”; from Sun Myung Moon’s
“Unification Chruch” to David Koresh’s “Davidian Branch”, the
recurring theme is that the cult’s interests override the human
understanding of right and wrong. In order to advance the interest
of the cult, which is regarded as the ultimate good, everything,
including lying, and even murder and assassination are
permissible. The end is deemed to be so lofty that it justifies
the means. This is the same idea of fascism where the
glorification of the state and the total subordination of the
individual to it are enforced.

None of the verse quoted above have anything to do with the Golden
Rule.

Verse 13:22 tells the believers to be patient and generous with
their money. This is what all cults demand from their followers.
The more sacrifice the cultist make the more he or she can be
manipulated. Verse 23:96 asks Muslims to repel evil, whereas the
definition of evil for Muhammad was contradicting him. Verse 41:34
is a Meccan verse where Muhammad and his followers were the
underdogs and here he preached patience and said repel evil with
good so your enemy becomes as friend. Could he have done anything
else? These orders changed when Muhammad came to power. In Medina
Muhammad banished and massacred entire populations just because he
suspected that they may not be friendly to him. 28:54 is a
repetition of 23:96 and 42:40 says whoever forgives and amends, he
shall have his reward from Allah. However, Muhammad never forgave
those who mocked him. As for Muhammad’s unforgiving nature it is
enough to recall the fate of Oqba the man who when Muhammad was in
Mecca used to mock him and when he was captured in the Battle of
Badr, Muhammad ordered his decapitation. He ventured to
expostulate, and demand why he should be treated more vigorously
than the other captives who were kept for ransom. ‘Because of
your enmity to God and to his Prophet,’ replied Muhammad. ‘And my
little girl!’ cried Oqba, in the bitterness of his soul, ‘Who will
take care of her?’ – ‘Hellfire!’ exclaimed the heartless
conqueror; and on the instant his victim was hewn to the ground.
‘Wretch that he was!’ continued Muhammad, ‘and persecutor!
Unbeliever in God, in his Prophet, and in his Book! I give thanks
unto the Lord that has slain you, and comforted mine eyes
thereby.’[1]

How do
you reconcile the claim that Muhammad in his farewell sermon said,
“Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.” With the fact that in
his deathbed he said, “No two religions are allowed in Arabia” and
ordered the forced conversion, expulsion or ethnic cleansing of
the Jews and Christian and the murder of Pagans?

The sura 9, which is the last words of Muhammad, is a manifesto of
discrimination and human rights abuses. This sura alone is proof
that Islam is against the Golden Rule

The first requisite to feel the pain and suffering of others is to
accept that they have feelings like us and they also feel hurt
the way we do. If we deny such feelings on others we do not feel
any remorse in abusing them. Muhammad claimed all those who
disbelieve in Allah are the worst creatures. He even said that all
non-believers will end up in hell where they will be tortured for
eternity. How then Muslims can treat equally those whom they
believe to be worst than beast and that deserve eternal
punishment?

There is nothing in the Quran and Hadith that would make us
believe that Islam is compatible with the Golden Rule.

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